


Trial by Air.

by WinterFaerie



Series: A Realm Reborn: Shion's beginning. [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Bees, Horror, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Slime, angry wind blah blah blah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:35:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26387281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterFaerie/pseuds/WinterFaerie
Summary: The level 10 conjurers quest. Shion finds out that she hates wind, bees and slime.
Series: A Realm Reborn: Shion's beginning. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917160
Kudos: 3





	Trial by Air.

**Author's Note:**

> This piece has violence against bees and very unsettling slime monster things.  
> It's also much longer than the last two. Enjoy.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

Hearer Wulfiue was the next element expert. After allowing herself some time to properly process the day prior, Shion finally decided to take up the next daunting task on her list of things to do. E-sumi-yan must not have heard about what happened with the other hearer at the spirit hold because he said nothing of it. Either that or he did not wish to get off track since he had a few other students standing in wait for his guidance and didn’t have the time to pat her on the back. Then again, Mother Miounne had asked Shion not to tell anyone about what had happened for fear of spreading what was currently unnecessary anxiety about the possible upcoming Green Wrath. Perhaps he wasn’t told yet because they were afraid of his reaction?  
Who knows. 

Shion made note of the next hearer’s name and location before heading out into the wilds of the shroud. Her face was mostly stuck behind her map as she walked along the dirt trails that wound through the hills and trees. Fullflower comb was her appointed destination. Not too long into her travels, she began hearing a strange sound not very unlike a quiet humming. After a quick sweep of the area around her, Shion couldn't find the source of the strange sound and it was becoming unsettling. With every step the humming seemed to grow louder and louder until it was finally more distinguishable. 

Bees! 

The young Raen found herself gawking stupidly at Fullflower Comb. Why had she not pieced together the name and the idea that bees would be involved? This little farm had dozens of small bee hives for harvesting honey and wax. Clouds of bees who’s buzzing was almost a roar like the river made the sky look like static jumping about in yellow and black patches. The hearer was speaking to a brunette who must have noticed Shion because she pointed and caused Wulfiue to turn and smile at Shion. Shion had her mouth open, something she didn’t fully realize until a bee flew a little too close and her brain screamed about accidentally eating a bee. Instinct caused her to jump and snap her mouth shut so quickly that she bit her tongue. 

Great first impression! The hearer laughed and welcomed Shion to the bee farm. She made no comment on Shion’s reaction to the bees. Oddly enough, she was also pretty anxious about this lesson. Ironically, Shion was to be her very first student! E-sumi-yan wasn’t kidding when he told Shion that the hearer was exceptionally young for someone so well practiced. There was a moment of silence between them as Wulfiue tried to think of what to do in order to teach the lesson. A gentle breeze picked up and suddenly she was inspired. She gasped and smiled, lifting a finger into the air. The solution? Find the source of tainted air flow and heal it. How? Well, Shion would just have to figure it out when she found her quarry.

Now, where to start? Not long after she began to brainstorm she noticed something odd out of the corner of her eye. Bees in a thin line drifting away from the farm, following the flow of the chilly evening breeze. Something in her gut told her to follow the bees and again, she was questioning her sanity as she did just that. Right as she was beginning to feel like this was a silly idea, the bees drifted around a bend and gathered over a small spring of water. Her brows lifted and suddenly the swarm seemed to agitate, around it the wind danced with flecks of that same odd purple and black combination and immediately, she was brought back to the first trial. She lowered a hand to her stomach, clutching her robe as she lingered with wide eyes. Why was she so afraid during these trials? She fought raging treants and mighty clay golems. Skeletons, imps, massive diremites, surely she could handle the wind. 

It wasn’t the wind that made the first move however.  
It was the bees. 

The throng of buzzing insects all moved together without another moment of notice and immediately they were on her. Shion let out a little shriek and flailed out her arms, already combing what felt to be hundreds of bees from the air around her with one sweep of her arm. Pinching sensations along her jaw and down her neck caused her to rake her fingers frantically over her face to pull the insects away from her skin. They fell by the handful to the ground like raindrops in the brush and yet there were still so many still jabbing her with their burning stingers. 

Panicked and in pain, the blonde felt along her belt for her wand and bid the elementals to help once again. It wasn’t exactly a conscious thought really, not at first. Shion didn’t just think, ‘hey elementals gimme windy powers!’ It was more of an instinctual reaction. She felt the rush of air around her and decided to borrow it for her gain. Her wand sliced through the air and with it she manipulated the breeze to rush around herself in a mini cyclone blowing the insects away from her with such abrupt force that they were all sent to the ground, motionless. It worked!

Then there was a distinct lack of buzzing now and she could hear the howl of wind cutting through the trees as the weather gradually seemed to worsen. It would be incredibly cold by the time the sun set but Shion had to sit down. She plopped down into the grass with her back to the small spring and dug a swelling hand into her bag. 

“Why bees?” She muttered, her left eye was starting to close from the swelling and every nerve was on fire. How many bee stings did it take to kill a person? She didn’t wanna find out. 

Fishing a potion out with haste, she popped the cork with her thumb and then tilted her head back to swallow the entire contents of the bottle.As the healing liquid slowly worked it’s magic on her painful stings, she heard an odd sound. The kind of sound one would hear if they were to ride way up high in an airship. The rush of wind, concentrated and almost startling. Green, gold and gloom purple appeared just in time for Shion to twist around. She pushed herself to her feet again, dropping the empty bottle at her feet. 

Her hand dropped to reach again for her wand but horror struck her as the wind from her very lungs was forcibly pulled from her throat and through her lips. Her lungs ached as her chest shrunk inward and she gasped for air as if she were suffocating. Tears burned in her eyes and for a moment her head spun, she staggered and watched as the very breath from her lungs formed three different entities before her. If they could even be called that. They were similar to the corrupt earth sprite from before in that they were the manifestation of their respective element. Bright green and yellow air danced flickered and danced about a bright crystal core like fire. The wind picked up around her and angrily blew her to and fro with the force of its bursts as if she weighed next to nothing. She ended up stepping in the cool water of the spring in her effort to regain control and balance, she lifted her arms, shielding her face from the small bits of debris this wind picked up. Splinters of bark, small rock shards, blades of grass, hissing water.. All of it zipped around her, making small precise lacerations in her skin, chipping away at her. This was erosion. 

The air suddenly tasted of something unnatural. Chemicals? Before she knew it, she was latched onto by something warm and wet. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It tightened around her ankle and yanked to pull her off her feet and drag her further into the spring. Shion lifted her head and dug her fingers into the mud beneath her so she wouldn’t be pulled or tossed again like a rag-doll but when she realized what she was looking at she screamed. 

Large eyes with dark pin points for pupils and a massive gaping maw on what looked to be a large mound of sludge. This was no creature Shion had ever seen before and she kicked at it in her attempt to get it to let go of her ankle but that foot plunged into the thing's body, engulfed in that same disgusting warmth. Her eyes widened, pupils dilating as adrenaline flooded her body. Was this what was causing the corruption?

She wanted to scream again but she was still struggling to keep the air in her lungs from fleeing. She took staggered, quick gulps of air and then held her breath as long as possible. The sludge monster growled, a disgusting gargle of goo on the back of its tongue. Suddenly, she was being pulled in by her foot. It sunk further into the monster’s body soon, she was within the reach of its wide gooey appendages. The creature grabbed Shion around her waist and its ‘arms’ melted into one another to basically have her circled in sludge that was rapidly creeping its way over the rest of her body. Shion reached up with the one hand that was free and tried to grab at the gunk that threatened to surround her neck but she couldn’t stop its progression. No matter how hard she dug her fingers in they couldn’t find purchase anywhere on this creature. How could it be so fluid but so unrelenting at the same time?! 

The wind continued to rage around the scene of the attack as the very existence of this being here was causing the corruption and taint to further spread. The newbie conjurer was in the eye of the storm but very, very far from being safe. Now, Shion was practically one with the monster’s body, her chin lifting as the sludge now crept up and filled her mouth. She’d never tasted or experienced anything so 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘭. 

She gagged violently, reluctantly swallowing down the slime forced into her throat. It truly was going to suffocate her at this rate and no matter how hard she clawed and kicked she couldn’t escape. 

‘𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎… 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎… 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝-’’ 

Lightheaded and growing weaker by the second, her kicking slowed to a stop and her hand fell, no longer clawing, limp. Shion saw flickers of stars momentarily before the darkness began to close in around her field of vision. 

“Shion!” 

The familiar voice caused Shion's heart to jump into overdrive again and suddenly her dark world exploded with a bang and a burst of bright light that flooded the area and ripped through the creature holding her captive. Another horrifying growl sounded but this time with a shrill cry of agony punctuating the sound. Its body burst like a boil and Shion fell to her hands and knees in the spring just below the corrupted sprites still causing their storm. She retched and coughed, her shoulders jerking as her body desperately fought to rid itself of any trace of that poisonous intruder. 

Shion inhaled deeply, her lungs burning in protest as she did so. Wulfiue stood ready, staff in one hand and the other holding her pointed hat firmly to her head as the wind whipped around them. 

“This sprite's presence is palpable. I should never have sent you to fight this alone. Had I known..” The hearer trailed off, looking guilty. 

On hands and knees,Shion crawled and quickly climbed back to her feet, looking a little green but more determined than ever to finish the job. She spun back around and pulled her wand from her belt in one smooth motion, finding grace for once. Channeling the rest of her energy and focus in offensive magic, she attacked. Large hunks of earth ripped from the ground behind the two mages and then flew at the sprites, impacting and destroying the two smaller ones right away. The larger of the sprites seemed weakened by the destruction of that horrible slime creature so when it blasted air at Shion she was able to dig her heels into the ground and stay upright before she swung her wand around in a wide arch before sending her own blast of air. It collided and the two opposing winds danced about like a small tornado before the final blow was made with two more massive mounds of earth. The sprite flared one final time before it began to fade away and with it the wind began to die down. 

Wulfiue lifted her head, bright eyes looking around as the stormy weather cleared. A wide smile curved her mouth. “Shion! You did it!” 

Shion simply stood, panting with her back towards the hearer. She grit her teeth and fought the tears that began building in her eyes without her permission. With shaking shoulders she nodded in agreement. She did do it… she did it and she was alive. Gods she was so thankful to be alive. Her head tilted back and she inhaled deeply. A gentle breeze brushed past her, caressing her cheek and she was calm. 

“ I need a bath…” And therapy after that horrifyingly intimate moment with the slime. A laugh escaped the raen and she rubbed the tears from her eyes with her palms. 

These lessons certainly weren’t getting any easier.  
If it hadn’t been for the hearer showing up when she did Shion would have been a goner. She turned back to her teacher and they both strode away from the spring. The hearer kept apologizing for putting her in harms way the whole way back to Fullflower Comb. The raen was exhausted and she side eyed the clouds of docile bees on the farm, nearly breaking into another bout of nervous laughter. 

After a quick look over, two potions, and a bit of healing magic, Hearer Wulfiue finally allowed Shion to leave and begin her little jog back to Gridania in the light of the malm marker torches that dotted along the otherwise dark path. 

𝐀𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 - 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if the ending seems a little rushed. I'm very tired.  
> Thank you for reading ♥


End file.
